“You’re right about that. Uncle Graves knew I would come down hard on this. So what better way to get rid of me than to make me the one responsible?” Alecto shook her head. “Ruthlessness at its finest.”
“So maybe it’s not such a virtue, after all.”
“Even a virtue shouldn’t be taken to the extreme.” Alecto waved a hand in dismissal. “But I didn’t come to talk philosophy. I only asked if you thought I was guilty so I could decide whether to trust you.”
“Trust me with what?”
“You know somebody named Pete?”
Thea frowned. “Why would you ask that?”
“Because I got an email from him. It took a couple of hours for these geniuses to think to take my laptop. Remind me to do a careful examination of the Security department when this is over.”
“From Pete? What did it say?”
“That he was writing to me because you don’t have a computer or email address. You’re to meet him at the intersection of Spencer Road and Route 47 at ten tonight. I’m welcome to come too, if I’d like. I thought that was courteous of him.”
Thea paced back and forth, wishing she had a bell in her hand. “But it can’t really be from Pete. He wouldn’t know what happened at the hearing. Flannery sure as hell wouldn’t have asked him to help me. Could they have been giving you a virus that planted false evidence on your computer or something?”
“Anything’s possible at this point. Who is this Pete?”
“A friend from ho— from before.”
“Does he call you Gumdrop?”
Thea froze. “How would they know that? Unless they’ve got him They’ve taken him and—”
“Or it was really from him and it’s a genuine offer,” Alecto interrupted. “Could just be that we have a friend on the inside who got in touch with him, if they knew he would be inclined to help you. Does anyone else know about him?”
“Cora and Nero,” Thea said. “And Cora has his email address. They’ve talked before. But you saw her today. She wouldn’t help me now.”
Alecto shrugged. “She might. Just because she thinks you’ve lost your mind doesn’t mean she wants you hurt. I’ve had some of that myself.”
“What do you mean?”
“Megaira came to see me not half an hour before I got that message. I figured it was because she knew I’d been set up, and I lit into her for just sitting there and letting it happen without saying a damn word in her own sister’s defense. You know what she said to that?”
“What?”
“That she wasn’t ready to take sides yet. Not between me and Uncle Graves.”
“They do seem close.”
Alecto glared at her. “How much closer than twins do you suppose it gets?” She sighed. “Anyway, Megaira didn’t see how Graves could have manufactured all that evidence. Or how he could be developing a superhex without materials, data, resources from RDM that she would know were taken. So she’s torn. That was her word. Torn. I’ll give her a tear.”
Once again, Thea was unnerved at seeing Alecto so shaken—so much so that she was showing it in front of Thea. “So why did she come to see you?”
“Because they’ve already decided against me.” Alecto looked at Thea. “And you. The entire board isn’t convinced, but Graves is owed a lot of favors, and I suspect a few of them are even afraid of him. They’ll go through the motions of a vote in the morning, but it’s decided. They’re going to take our wings.”
Thea swallowed, tried to say something, couldn’t think of what. They couldn’t take her wings. She wouldn’t allow it. She’d only just gotten used to having them, and she damn well liked it.
“And she said that whatever the truth was, I was still her sister,” Alecto went on. “And she didn’t want to see that happen to me. She suggested I run.”
“And then half an hour later you conveniently got a message claiming to be from Pete, suggesting an escape plan? That’s got to be a setup,” Thea said.
“I thought of that, but why would they bother?” Alecto asked. “What could they hope to catch us doing at this point? They’ve already decided on the worst possible punishment for the crimes they’ve already convicted us of.”
“So maybe Megaira and Cora set this up because they feel sorry for us, that’s what you’re saying?”
Alecto shrugged. “Pity is a very rare trait among furies, and not something I’ve seen in my sister. But I don’t know why else they’d be doing it.”
Thea stopped pacing and sat down beside Alecto. They leaned their heads against the back of the couch and stared at the ceiling, not speaking for a minute or two. Finally Thea said, “Well, we’ve got to find out, right? Even if it is some kind of setup. It beats just sitting here like flies under a glass, waiting for Graves to come and pluck our wings off.”
“I agree.”
“Oh, and speaking of Graves—”
“Is this where you give me the first of what I’m sure will be many I-told-you-so’s?”
“Are you going to offer me the first of what should be many I’m-sorry-I-doubted-you’s? Impartial facilitator my ass.”
“He’s family. I would never have believed it of him. Part of me still thinks it’s some kind of misunderstanding.”
“Yeah, well it’s not. Your sister is right. We’ve got to run. So I guess we might as well run together.” Thea might not like her, but she had to admit, Alecto was strong. She was the kind of person you wanted on your side in a situation like this. “But how will we get to the gate with them watching us?” There had been two guards outside her door, and she supposed two more had come with Alecto.
“You’re still thinking like a human,” Alecto said. “We don’t need a gate to fly out of here.”
“No, but I can’t fly very fast with this wing injury. And if we’re seen just flying off into the night, that’s going to raise some eyebrows, don’t you think?”
Unless they were going someplace else, someplace authorized. Someplace they could more easily leave later, without being seen.
Someplace on the campus, but out of the way.
“Do you know Nana?” Thea asked. “Old woman who lives in the woods, kind of crazy?”
Alecto crossed her arms. “Yes, I know her. And you want to watch how you speak about my Nana.”
“Nana is your Nana? But she was so kind…” Thea trailed off as Alecto cocked an eyebrow at her.
“What’s your point?” Alecto asked.
“Well, it’s an even better idea if she’s your grandma,” Thea said. “Going to see her during this time of trouble would be the most natural thing in the world for you, right? So we say we’re going to ask her advice. We stay until well after dark, and then find a way to lose our guards out there, under the cover of the forest. Fly over the fence at the closest point to Nana’s cottage, and off we go.”
Alecto regarded her for a minute before saying, “That’s actually a pretty good idea.”
“Yeah, well, lightning can always strike.” Thea stood and looked around her residence, surprised to find a lump in her throat at the thought of leaving it. “How long do you think we’ll be gone?”
“I don’t know,” Alecto said. “But you can bet it won’t be forever.”
Thea was worried that the security guards would resist letting them go visit Nana, but they mostly seemed pleased that Alecto and Thea wanted to go somewhere together, meaning they would only need two guards instead of four. After arguing a bit about which two got to go home, the unlucky ones who remained kept a respectful distance behind Thea and Alecto as they flew out to the forest.
Nana, it seemed, was the exception to a lot of rules, and one of those was that she was allowed to have a kitchen. She made them an unexpectedly pleasant dinner of steak and baked potatoes while they filled her in on everything that had happened. She listened without interruption, her face getting darker and darker as the story went on.
When they finished she looked at Thea and said, “Graves is my youngest, you know. Four kid
s and the only one left living. It seems to be my burden to live longer than any reasonable person could want to. Probably outlive my grandchildren, too.”
“Let’s hope not,” Alecto muttered.
“But I’m not blind to my children’s sins the way human mothers are,” Nana went on. “Hard to be, when you’re a fury.”
“It was plenty hard for my human mother, too,” said Thea, matching Alecto’s tone.
Nana sat back in her chair and raised her eyebrows at both of them. “You two are awfully sassy. But I suppose that’s to be expected, with everything happening the way it is. As I was saying…” She paused, presumably to be sure there would be no more commentary, then went on, “Graves has a lot of good points, but he has always been consumed by greed and pride. Always wanted better than he had.”
“Still does,” Alecto said. She smiled at Thea. “You know he has those damn suits of his custom made by an ex-client? Pays a fortune for them, but he can’t be satisfied with what everyone else gets.”
Nana shrugged. “Probably should have beaten some sense into him when I had the chance, but my late husband, rest him, was opposed to lashing. Anyway my point is, I can’t say I’m surprised to find him involved in a money-making scheme like this. I imagine that superhex would sell to someone or other for more money than he could ever count, let alone spend.” She looked at Alecto. “I’m surprised at your sister, though.”
“Nana, I’m disappointed in Maggie too, but the fact that she’s confused doesn’t make her involved,” Alecto said. “You know how things are with her and Graves. She’s trusted him since she was tiny, and he’s mentored her her whole life.”
Nana didn’t look convinced, and privately neither was Thea. But since Nana didn’t press the point, neither did she.
While Alecto and Thea washed up, Nana went to stand by the window. She didn’t open the curtains, only put her hand gently on one of them. She closed her eyes, but didn’t bother with the humming this time.
“They’re in a tree, passing a bottle of something back and forth,” she said at last. “I don’t imagine they’ll be very difficult to dispense with.”
“Nana, I don’t want them hurt,” said Alecto.
“How do you intend to do this without hurting them?” Nana asked.
Thea didn’t like where this seemed to be going. “Do what?”
Alecto glanced at Thea, then turned away. “Nana and I are going to subdue the guards.”
“What do you mean subdue?”
Nana smiled and nodded at something over Thea’s shoulder. Thea turned around to find Nana’s fluffy pink armchair turned upside down and floating three feet above the floor.
“We have a few less common skills in my family,” Alecto said.
“Telekinesis,” said Thea. “Elon and I talked about this once. Levels of manipulating energy, or something like that.”
“Something like that,” Nana agreed as the chair righted itself and landed gently in its place. “I expect you could learn it too, powerful as you are.”
“So you’re going to do what, throw them out of the tree?” Thea asked. “You don’t think we can just sneak away?”
“It’s too risky,” Alecto said. “I want to know they’re out cold and can’t follow us.” She turned to Nana. “But I won’t have them seriously injured. I’m not going to feed this by having rumors flying through the colony that I’m hurting furies.”
“Not going to be able to do it without a few bumps,” Nana said with a shrug.
Alecto nodded. “Bumps are fine. It’s breaks we don’t want.”
“All right then. Best go soon,” said Nana. “But I have time to throw together some things for you.”
Nana gave them shoulder bags packed with shirts with wing slits (“You can get other clothes out there easy enough, since Thea’s got money.”) and, inexplicably, dinner rolls (“Even money can’t necessarily buy good bread.”), along with bottles of water. Then she took Alecto back into her bedroom and talked to her alone for a long time, while Thea stood by the same window Nana had stood at earlier, resting her hand on the same curtain. She breathed deeply and tried to see outside, to feel what might be out there.
The shadows Nana had seen around Thea felt thicker and closer than ever.
No shit. Don’t need to be psychic to see that.
As they were getting ready to leave, Nana took Thea by the elbow. “I wanted to tell you I tried that trick you taught me.”
“She taught you a trick?” Alecto looked equal parts offended and jealous. Thea couldn’t help but smile.
“I have a pearl necklace, from my wedding day,” Nana said. “I spilled a few drops of blood on it. It seems to work better with blood from the head or face, by the way.”
Thea nodded. “I’ve found that, too. What did you see?”
“I saw a house on fire. There were furies flying around it, fighting one another. I don’t think it’s happened yet.” Nana released Thea’s arm and stood up straighter. “You two see to it that it doesn’t.”
Thea nodded. “Yes ma’am.”
For once, Nana didn’t scold her for using the word ma’am. She just nodded and gestured for them to follow her outside.
All Thea hoped for as they stepped out into the woods was that Alecto would get her wish, and the fight wouldn’t get too ugly. She hadn’t dared to hope there would be no fight at all.
But the guards were gone. There was no sign of them anywhere.
“Do you think they just got tired and went home?” Thea asked. It seemed too good to be true, but she supposed it was possible. “They did seem kind of lazy.”
“And drunk,” Nana added.
But Alecto shook her head. “It’s too easy. I don’t like it.”
“Me neither,” said Thea. “But what else can we do but stick to the plan? I’m not going back to my residence.”
Alecto nodded. “If it’s a trap, I suppose we just fight our way out of it and strike out on our own.”
They both hugged Nana—Alecto for almost a full minute, by Thea’s count—then flew out over the fence and off the campus. They went on foot most of the way from there, deciding that the risk of being seen in flight was too great.
“It was too easy,” Alecto said again as they walked.
“I know, but I don’t know why they’d bother leading us into a trap when they already had us to begin with,” said Thea.
“Because it’s easier to kill us out here and claim we ran.”
Thea agreed that was a likely explanation, but it wasn’t the only one that came to mind. “Or maybe Megaira told you to run because that’s what they really want. She said she didn’t want to see you hurt. And Graves is your uncle. He can love you and want you out of his way at the same time. They don’t want you dead, they just want you gone.”
“Stop saying they like my sister is part of this.”
Thea sighed. “I think you’re going to have to face the fact that she might be.”
“I beg your pardon?”
“There are obvious connections. You said yourself, it would be hard for Graves to get the RDM resources he’d need for something like this. And Hester didn’t work for Graves, she worked for Megaira.”
“But she used to work for Graves. He was the head of RDM.”
“Alecto—”
“Enough! I am still your boss, and we are not having this discussion.”
Thea snorted at that. “Be sure to bring it up in my next review.”
As a result of walking, they were fifteen minutes late to the meeting spot. Spencer Road was seldom used, and even Route 47 didn’t see much traffic at night. There were no street lights. It was an ideal place for an ambush.
“Do you think we missed him?” Alecto asked. “Is he the type to get impatient?”
Thea shook her head. “No, but…” she trailed off, not knowing what she wanted to say. There wasn’t even any real tree cover. They were completely exposed and helpless.
No, not helpless. Apparently Alecto c
an throw stuff with her mind. And you’ve got claws, and wings. You aren’t helpless anymore.
Thea had been fortified by such internal pep talks several times over the past few weeks, but this time it did little to comfort her.
Five minutes later, a pair of headlights came up around a bend in the road. The driver turned them off almost immediately after making the turn, and the car slowed down to a crawl as it approached.
Thea stood still and waited. Beside her, she heard a soft swish as Alecto’s wings tensed, ready to snap open.
After seconds that stretched until they felt like hours, the vehicle got close enough to see that it was Pete’s beat-up SUV.
“It’s okay,” Thea said. “That’s him.”
She’d been betrayed by Flannery, and then Cora. She’d spent the last hour sick with suspicion and worry. But now that he was here, Thea found she just didn’t have the energy to doubt Pete, too. Despite having precious little to be happy about, she smiled as she climbed in.
“Thank you,” Thea said as Pete turned around to head back down Route 47. “How did you know?”
“Cora sent me an email.”
“When?”
“Was in my inbox when I got up this morning. She knew what was coming.” He nodded toward Alecto in the back seat. “Although to be honest she thought it was you, so I guess she didn’t have all the facts yet.”
“And she told you what, exactly?” Thea asked.
“That I should be on standby and she’d let me know if you needed me, but that I was not under any circumstances to contact her directly, even through our secure channels.” He chuckled. “Said she was going undercover.”
“That was fast thinking,” Alecto said.
“She’s a fast thinker,” said Thea.
“That she is,” agreed Pete. “She said she didn’t want to go down with you, but it wasn’t purely selfish. She thought the best way of getting to the bottom of this was for her and her brother and her boyfriend to turn coat and pretend to be on their side. Stay on the inside and all that.” He shrugged at Thea. “Pretty much what you did to find Flannery.”
Rising Fury (Hexing House Book 1) Page 17